


Right Here

by bestthreemonths



Series: Kellex Collegeverse [2]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 14:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6012381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestthreemonths/pseuds/bestthreemonths
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a chilly Valentine's evening, Tobin and Christen keep each other warm in the woods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right Here

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a little Valentine's Day action for everyone loving Preath in Live a Little (and in general)! For those of you who have been asking, there's a little insight into their back story and the start of their relationship.
> 
> Leave a comment or drop me a message on [Tumblr](kneatthanks.tumblr.com) if you enjoy :)

Christen Press is frazzled. When she had planned this weekend away, she hadn't considered the fact that it could get cold in central Florida in February. Tobin doesn't seem particularly concerned, but Press knows her to be such a go with the flow kind of person that she doubts she’ll even consider it till nightfall, when temperatures drop.

The only reason Christen is even thinking about it is because she's from Southern California, where it stays pretty warm. Tobin, on the other hand, is from New Jersey, so the 50-degree weather of the late afternoon doesn't get to her.

“Chris, will you help me hold this end down while I—” Tobin trails off, too focused on the finishing touches of the tent, but Christen sees where she's struggling and rushes over to hold down the tarp so Tobin can put in the final stake. “Beautiful.”

“Good job,” Christen says, high fiving Tobin. Tobin grabs her hand after slapping it, pulling her in for a quick kiss.

“Where's your head?”

“Nowhere,” Christen says, blushing. Tobin always knows when she's mentally elsewhere. “Right here.”

“Good,” Tobin says. “Me too.”

Tobin grills burgers while Christen plays music to set the tone (and to drown out the loud people one campsite over). Christen soon forgets the chill in the air, distracted by Tobin’s laughter and the smell of dinner.

“This was a great idea,” Tobin says, biting into a burger as they sit at a picnic table. “I was kind of nervous about Valentine’s Day.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to plan something really nice for you,” Tobin says. She doesn’t get embarrassed admitting that stuff, not like Christen does, and Christen appreciates it. Tobin’s cards are always on the table, there are never any guessing games. It makes Christen want to be the same.

“I’m worried it’ll be too cold,” Christen says. “And that you’ll want to make me happy so badly that you’ll pretend it’s fine while freezing your ass off.”

“You should know me better than that,” Tobin says. “If it is, I’ll keep you warm.”

“Yeah, okay, human ice cube,” Christen laughs. Tobin’s extremities get extremely cold even under the covers in a warm house, something that makes Christen yelp when Tobin tries to wrap herself around her in bed at night. Kelley once asked if she needed to leave the room when Tobin slept over, but both Alex and Syd have experienced Tobin’s icicle fingers and toes, so they never question it when Christen sleeps there.

“You brought like twenty blankets, I think we’ll be fine,” Tobin says. “It just feels nice to get away from it all for a few days.”

Christen smiles. “It does, doesn’t it? Though I could do without the other people, I think.” She motions behind her to where they can hear their neighbors, at least for the night, playing music and laughing and talking loudly.

“Hey,” Tobin says gently, setting down her burger. “Where’s your head?”

“Right here,” Christen says, and when she looks into Tobin’s eyes, full of love and genuine concern for Christen’s well-being, she means it.

It does get chillier as the night wears on, but Press finds warmth inside one of Tobin’s sweatshirts, wrapped in a huge blanket that Tobin slips inside when she’s done stoking the bonfire she started. Tobin’s hand is icy as it slips underneath the back of Christen’s sweatshirt, but the fire warms their cheeks, balancing it out.

Christen nuzzles into Tobin’s neck, and her eyes flutter shut when Tobin kisses the top of her head. “Thanks for being my Valentine,” Christen says.

“Thanks for being mine,” Tobin says. Christen tilts her head back, knowing Tobin would be looking for a kiss, and she does. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” Christen says, puckering her lips for another quick kiss. Hearing that never gets old. Christen thinks she knew she loved Tobin from their first date—well, Tobin said it wasn’t a date, but Christen would always argue it was—when Tobin asked Christen to go to church with her the morning after the homecoming game.

They hadn’t talked about their feelings or anything like that at that point, so the idea concerned Christen, but Tobin had seemed so nervous to ask her that Christen said yes. She obsessed over what to wear, which drove Kelley crazy, mostly because she was busy obsessing over whether Alex liked her. They’re all glad those days are over.

When Tobin picked her up, though, she was wearing jeans and a slightly nicer shirt than usual, and Christen felt self-conscious in her sun dress and wedges until they got to church and she realized everyone was wearing all sorts of things, ranging from “Sunday best” suits and dresses to jeans and T-shirts much like what the pastor wore. They sat with some girls Christen sort of recognized from ADPi, who all smiled and welcomed her with hugs as they ushered them into their pew.

Christen couldn’t help it, her knee was shaking like crazy, and Tobin gave her a reassuring pat and a smile, putting her nerves to rest. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was easy to feel comfortable next to Tobin. It still is. There was music and dancing and people who just looked excited to be alive, and Christen found it thrilling. She bowed her head reverently during prayer, sneaking glances to the side to see what Tobin was doing in case she needed to follow suit.

When the pastor came onto the stage, he started cracking jokes about the football game and talking about something funny one of his kids had said that morning. Christen could have sworn he made eye contact with her and smiled at least ten times. Tobin let Christen follow along in her Bible so she wouldn’t have to scramble to find passages in the complimentary ones in the pews, and she scribbled away in her notebook, nodding every time the pastor said something particularly interesting. Christen wanted to see what she was writing, but she couldn’t keep up with that and the actual message all at once.

It ended with more singing and dancing, and Christen wasn’t sure how to process it all at once. The ADPi girls invited them to Cracker Barrel for brunch, but Tobin read Christen’s hesitation and politely declined for them both, citing homework. Instead, they went to Civilization for a quiet brunch, just the two of them, where Christen could ask any question she wanted, which is exactly what she did. Hearing Tobin talk about her faith and the tenets of her moral code spoke to Christen’s heart, and she found herself relating to a lot of what Tobin felt.

“It’s kind of like my meditation,” Christen had said while Tobin talked about prayer. “Only you’re talking to someone.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Tobin said.

“Do you ever question it?”

“Of course,” Tobin said without hesitation. “But that’s what faith is about, right? Choosing to believe even when everything is screaming at you not to. I think love is the same. You can feel like you love someone for a long time and it’s easy to act on it as long as you have those feelings, but it’s not always easy. And you have to fight through that and make the choice to love anyway. So yeah, sometimes it’s a fight for me, but I have to choose to believe, even when I don’t want to.”

“Even when the Bible says things that don’t add up?” Christen asked gently.

Tobin smiled like she was expecting the question, which came as a surprise to Christen. “Especially then.”

They talked for two hours about Tobin’s struggles with what the Bible said versus what she believes and the character of her God. They both skirted around the topic, but eventually Tobin brought it up, catching Christen off guard in the middle of a sip of water.

“Like, I’m gay, but I don’t think God loves me less for it,” Tobin said. 

“I think that would be a terrible reason to stop loving you,” Christen said, smiling once she overcame her shock.

Tobin shrugged, and Christen remembers the conflict in her eyes. “Some people would disagree.”

“Not the people who matter, though.” Tobin nodded, but Christen knew it didn’t help all that much. After all, Christen is the last person who could make an educated statement on what God will and will not accept. “I think that’s what has made me so hesitant about the whole church thing for so long.”

“A lot of people feel that way,” Tobin said. “It took me a really long time to come to terms with that and being a Christian. Honestly, it wasn’t till I got to college and met Lauren and started going to church with her and A-Rod that I was really able to accept that I could be both.”

“That’s really comforting,” Christen said. “It was hard enough for me to accept myself without having to deal with the religious side of things. But today made me feel like maybe it’s not as bad as I thought.”

Tobin only showed the slightest surprise, but she quickly shook it off. “Well, you’re more than welcome to come to church with me anytime.”

Christen had smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.” And she had, every Sunday they’d been in Gainesville since. She never felt pressured to do anything more than sit and listen, but she’s learned the words to most of the songs, and she thinks she’s even figured out the whole praying thing. She even went to Tobin’s family’s slightly more conservative church back in New Jersey over Christmas break and found herself enjoying it still. Though that could have had something to do with the girl next to her.

The reason Tobin argues that it wasn’t really their first date was because they paid for their own meals. If you ask her, she’ll tell you that their first date was frozen yogurt the next night after chapter, which she had proposed when leaving brunch on Sunday. They went to Yogurtland instead of Mochi, where pretty much everyone on or near campus goes, willing to take a longer trip for better flavors, more toppings, and fewer freshmen.

Tobin had insisted on paying for Christen’s yogurt, and they talked for way longer than they were supposed to considering they both had midterms coming up. At the end of the night, when Tobin had dropped Christen off at the Kappa house, Christen kissed her goodnight like it was nothing. The grand debate only began when, during a game of Never Have I Ever with all the girls at Ashlyn and Whitney’s, Christen professed that she never kisses on the first date. To this day, neither girl has conceded that the other one might be correct, and if they had to guess, they never will.

Christen’s thumb brushes Tobin’s cheek, pulling her back in for a longer, deeper kiss. Kissing Tobin is one of the most fun things she can think of, mostly because Tobin just makes everything fun. Christen finds herself smiling and laughing the whole time because Tobin can never help herself from smiling into kisses. It’s an endless cycle because then Christen smiles and Tobin whispers something about how Christen needs to take this more seriously, grinning herself. Before long, Christen is giggling and red-faced, and they’re doing more laughing than kissing. But neither one would have it any other way.

“If we go into the tent now, we can make our s’mores later, right?” Tobin asks, smirking.

“If we go into the tent now, I can’t promise I’ll want to come back out.”

“Who needs s’mores anyway when I’ve got a girl as sweet as you?”

Christen’s jaw drops. “That was worse than any Kelley pun I’ve ever heard. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Trust me, I am,” Tobin says. “But you’re still going to go into the tent with me, aren’t you?” Christen nods, trying to contain her grin. Tobin presses another kiss to her lips. “Then I’d say it was worth it. Come on, you're shivering," she says, taking Christen's hand as she stands up. "Let me warm you up.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll keep these questions pretty simple for ya!
> 
> 1\. Favorite lines?  
> 2\. Would you read more Preath if I wrote it? ;)


End file.
